Antimemetics Division Hub - SCP Foundation

I would be interested in exploring the concepts we’ve been setting up here at THX and never really played with, especially the Archipel (Fonderie de Fiction – Des modes d’existence des réseaux de résistance), under the light of this creative writing community…

In my recent peregrinations, a librarian introduced me to the concept of anti-memetics which seems to stem from a 4Chan post in 2008 called SCP-173. Subsequently, a wiki was created to compile CC-BY-SA-3.0 creative fiction.The SCP series became quite a compendium of 7000 fictional item descriptions and a whole complex universe of paranoia and fun.

Anti-memetics obviously refers to Memetics, which is itself an anti-meme, as both Richard Dawkins and Barbara Streisand would confirm.

This is the SCP Foundation Wiki, a collaborative writing site based around the premise that… in essence, magic is real. It’s not exactly like the traditional fantasy style magic you’ve come to know, but that’s the best way we can describe the stuff we have here - Anomalies; items and critters that do not follow the rules of nature as we know them. Staircases that go on forever, mechanical gods from the beginning of time, otherwise regular humans who reshape reality with their mind: these are the kinds of things that, if known to the public, could cause mass hysteria and start wars on scales unprecedented. Due to that, there exists an organization called the SCP Foundation, whose job is to research paranormal activity, keep these creatures and objects concealed from the public, and protect humanity from the horrors of the dark.

Although the main theme of SCP Foundation differs from ours, it may serve as an inspiration to write some stories, especially if we want to wander about anti-memetics.

An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it.

Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn’t share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you tried: complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams…

But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can’t record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you’re at war?

Welcome to the Antimemetics Division.

No, this is not your first day.


Here is an interesting example of the work produced by an author on the SCP wiki…

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

This story is complete.